New Jersey Home-Schooled Athletes Finally Allowed To Compete Athletically

November 14, 2011 /
PressOfAtlanticCity.com

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/editorials/home-schooled-athletes-ban-never-made-sense/article_0ab10700-b624-5abf-8fa7-a8cfed88fb33.html

Parents who choose to home-school their children pay the same school taxes that other parents pay. That’s one reason why the state requires the public schools to allow home-schooled children to take part in extracurricular activities at their local schools.

But the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, which governs high-school sports in the state, has – until now – always refused to allow home-schooled children to take part in public-school sports.

“The rule has always been no,” NJSIAA Executive Director Steve Timko said the other day.

How the NJSIAA got away with that is beyond us, especially considering that parents who home-school their children are not generally timid about asserting their rights.

But last week, the NJSIAA finally changed its policy. Starting with the upcoming winter sports season, home-schooled students will be allowed to play on their home district’s sports teams.

The decision came after much discussion. Surprisingly – to us, anyway – about half of the NJSIAA’s counterparts in other states around the country do not allow home-schooled children to play on the sports teams. Here and elsewhere, of course, high-school sports are taken very, very seriously by many people, and the concern is that coaches could recruit home-schooled “ringers” to play on their teams.

But the NJSIAA’s new guidelines address that concern by requiring home-schooled students to get permission from their local school boards. The students must first submit a written request to the appropriate school principal, and they will have to meet the same residency, academic and behavorial eligibility requirements as other student-athletes.

It all seems perfectly fair and reasonable. And, “it’s about time,” as Drew Benson, an Egg Harbor City father of three home-schooled children, noted.

The ban never made sense. We have our concerns about the growing home-school movement. Public schools serve as a unifying force in society, providing a shared experience that brings us all closer. But there is no denying that home-schooled children have won major spelling bees, excelled in New Jersey’s mock-trial competition and won many other honors. And they certainly should be entitled to play on the basketball team.


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